Broken and Empty (8:30 am Worship Service)

Visible scars tell one kind of story, and hidden scars tell another. The scars on arms, knees, hands, and wrists can be pointed to and explained. The scars of the heart are harder to show, but they often go deeper and stay closer. Loss, miscarriage, sudden death, family grief, health trouble, and the long hard turns of life leave a person feeling broken, empty, and lost.

Jeremiah gives language to that kind of hurt. Jeremiah cries, “You who are my comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me.” The prophet hears the cry of a crushed people and says, “Since my people are crushed, I am crushed.” Jeremiah does not stand far off from the pain. The wound of the people becomes his wound, and the question rises from the middle of that grief: “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?”

Gilead’s balm was known as a healing salve, and its physicians were known for care. But Jeremiah is not finally asking about medicine made from plants and resins. Jeremiah is pointing beyond Gilead to the great physician. The real wound is deeper than skin, and the real healing has to reach the places where grief, sin, fear, and emptiness have taken hold.

The centurion shows what that faith looks like. His servant is ill and near death, and he comes to Christ with trust laid bare. Christ says, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in all of Israel.” The centurion knows where healing is found, and Jeremiah’s question presses the same truth upon a people who have made a mess of life with worthless idols and wrong turns. The great physician is not absent, but faith must turn toward him.

The balm is faith when life is that bad. Faith does not make grief easy. Faith does not erase the season of questions, the “why” and the “how come.” But faith gives a place to begin when a person is crumpled on the floor, wondering how to go on from here.

The old spiritual turns Jeremiah’s question mark into an exclamation point. Enslaved people, mistreated and torn from families, sang, “There is a balm in Gilead that makes the wounded whole.” That is bold faith from wounded people. The question becomes proclamation. There is a balm. There is healing. There is a healer who makes the wounded whole.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Hidden scars still need healing The deepest wounds are often the ones no one can see, and those wounds still shape the way a person carries daily life. Visible scars can be pointed out, but grief, shock, and loss live inwardly and often speak without words. Jeremiah’s cry gives permission for that hidden pain to be named before God instead of buried under a brave face. [34:44]
• 2. Jeremiah’s question names real grief “Is there no balm in Gilead?” is not a polite religious line, but a cry from a crushed heart. Jeremiah feels the people’s wound as his own, and that shared sorrow keeps grief from becoming isolated despair. The question matters because it refuses to pretend that the wound is small or that healing is automatic. [44:12]
• 3. The great physician is Christ Jeremiah’s balm points beyond a healing salve to the Lord who can meet the wound beneath the wound. The centurion’s faith shows what it means to seek the healer when death and helplessness are near. Faith does not deny the seriousness of the trouble, but it knows where to carry it. [48:29]
• 4. Faith begins from the floor The balm is faith when life has become so heavy that going on feels impossible. That kind of faith is not neat, quick, or painless. It may begin with a person crumpled in grief, but it still becomes the first movement toward the help, guidance, and support of the great physician. [50:31]
• 5. Question marks can become exclamation points The spiritual “There Is a Balm in Gilead” turns Jeremiah’s aching question into a bold proclamation. That change does not come from an easy life, but from wounded people finding that Christ is still healer in harsh conditions. Faith may pass through seasons of why and how come, but it can still learn to say, “There is a balm.” [51:41]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [29:27] - The Centurion And Great Faith
• [30:25] - Coming Home And Remembering Scars
• [32:44] - Visible Scars And Hidden Wounds
• [35:34] - Family Loss And Brokenness
• [39:15] - Navy Chaplaincy And More Grief
• [42:36] - Jeremiah’s Cry For Healing
• [45:15] - Death, Loss, And Life’s Gut Punches
• [46:15] - What The Balm In Gilead Means
• [48:29] - The Great Physician And The Centurion
• [50:31] - Faith When Life Feels Impossible
• [51:41] - From Question Mark To Exclamation Point
• [53:44] - A Mother’s Grief Becomes Care Packages
• [56:48] - There Is Healing And A Healer

Bible Reading

Jeremiah 8:18-22
“You who are my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: 'Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?' 'Why have they aroused my anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?' 'The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.' Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people?” [42:36]

Luke 7:1-10
“When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, 'This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.' So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: 'Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.' When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, 'I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.' Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.” [49:29]

Jeremiah 8:18
“You who are my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me.” [42:49]

Observation questions

1. In Jeremiah 8:18-22, what words and images show how deep the people's pain had become, and how does Jeremiah speak as if their wound has become his own? [44:12]
2. What kinds of scars were described as visible, and what kinds were described as hidden or inward? [34:44]
3. In Luke 7:1-10, what does the centurion actually ask Jesus to do, and what does Jesus say about the centurion’s faith? [49:29]
4. What everyday losses and life troubles were named alongside death as things that can leave a person feeling broken and empty? [46:15]

Interpretation questions

1. Jeremiah asks, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” If Gilead was known for healing, why does that question carry more than a medical meaning? [46:28]
2. Jeremiah says, “Since my people are crushed, I am crushed.” What does that suggest about the way godly grief works when someone truly shares in the pain of others? [48:03]
3. Jesus calls the centurion’s trust “great faith.” What makes the centurion’s faith stand out, especially when he is facing sickness and possible death? [48:51]
4. The balm is described as faith when life is so heavy that a person does not know how to go on. How does that shape the meaning of healing in this passage? [50:19]

Application questions

1. Hidden scars often shape daily life more than visible ones do. What is one hidden wound, grief, or disappointment that has been hard to name before God or before trusted people? [35:01]
2. There are seasons when a person feels crumpled on the floor and can barely think about the next step. When life has felt like that, what helped, or what might help now, to take even one small step of faith? [50:31]
3. Faith does not erase the “why” and the “how come.” What questions has this group had to carry in a hard season, and what does it look like to keep turning those questions toward Christ instead of away from him? [53:15]
4. The centurion knew where to carry his need. When a burden feels too big to manage, what does it look like in real life to bring that need to the great physician? [50:05]
5. Some wounds come from personal wrong turns, and some come simply because life is hard. Which of those feels closer right now, and how might faith speak differently into each one? [49:51]
6. Question marks can become exclamation points, even if that change takes time. Has there been a place in life where god slowly moved someone from “Is there any healing?” to “There is a balm”? What did that movement look like? [51:41]
7. Deep pain can sometimes become a way of caring for others, as grief is turned outward in love. Has suffering ever opened a door for serving, comforting, or noticing someone else in need? [56:48]